Beaufort Water Festival wraps up

BEAUFORT, SC (WTOC) - The Water Festival party in Beaufort may be over, but the work certainly isn't for festival volunteers. They spent Monday morning cleaning up Waterfront Park.

"Everything that was in the park has to go back to a storage unit we call lock up," said volunteer Ken Mack. "We have to pack it, orderly stack it and get it ready for next year."

While it has been a busy two weeks for all of these volunteers, Commodore Sheri Little and her crew members say it was all worth it.

"It's the best feeling in the world, having a hand in such a large event, huge event for Beaufort, such a community event in it's biggest sense is hugely rewarding," Little said.

"We've had a great Water Festival, Bill Damude said. "The 55th was perfect. Commodore Sheri Little did a great job as well as the directors, coordinators [and] volunteers."

After all of the hard work, they were glad to see so many come out and enjoy it.

"The crowds were phenomenal," Little said. "The park was full of people having a good time and of course the weather had a lot to do with it."

Not only was the park full, but many local restaurants and merchants were booming as well.

"It went awesome," said Bev Stavac of Luther's. "We had a great week, a lot of fun. It's amazing because you think it can't get any better and then it does get better and you say 'Wow, that's great.'"

Cindy Jacobus at the Lollipop Shop said the festival was a big hit for them as well.

"We're right here at the gate of the Water Festival, as people were walking into the park, they would come down to visit with us and what was really great was to see return and repeat customers from last year," Jacobus said.

As volunteers wrap up, next year's Commodore Bob Bible is already thinking about the 2011 festival.

"I'm excited and nervous at the same time," Bible said. "Commodore Sheri Little did an outstanding job and she's going to be a tough act to follow."

But he and the others are up for the challenge.

Organizers said they'll officially begin planning next year's Beaufort Water Festival in September and will continue until festival begins next July.